Protective panels using woven fibres of aramid and related materials are previously known in different designs. Such known designs are, for example, disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,702, PCT Application No. W092/06841 and by the European Patent Application No. 0 599 386 A1, the last one filed by the present inventor as well.
Said known protective panels are as such relatively stiff and are, thus, difficult to use when, for example, one wishes to locate the pre manufactured protective panels in the doors of vehicles between the outer shell of the vehicle and the inside door paneling and in other spaces present in the vehicles.
The depth available for such protective panels in doors of vehicles is very limited and ranges from about 0.8 centimeters to about 2.0 centimeters. The available space varies in thickness and is difficult to reach because other structures means are present in said spaces like levels, door locks, window hoist means, and so on. A relatively flexible protective panel is apparently easier to install.
The limited spaces available in such doors of vehicles mean that it is difficult to provide a panel effective as protection against bullets from guns due to the fact that there is not enough space available to provide the protection desired.
It is, of course, always possible to use heavy weighted steel plates or corresponding materials but the weights added in such cases to the vehicle would create other drawbacks like requiring very expensive and time consuming modifications to the vehicle, larger fuel consumption of the vehicle and so on.